Preview Round 6, 2019: St.Kilda v Adelaide - Marvel Stadium, Saturday 27th April, 4:35PM AEST

Who Wins?

  • Saints

    Votes: 75 84.3%
  • Crows

    Votes: 14 15.7%

  • Total voters
    89

tim_saints

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I hate Sunday games with a passion, I guess it just depends on your circumstances.
Completely agree, can’t stand Sunday games... I like going to enjoy myself after we win when we do and Sundays just make it feel pointless with it being Monday the next day... still do just prefer Saturdays :p.
 

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Not only JWEB and Savage have been used to bring the ball out.

Wilkie is so smooth and accurate, Battle is accurate and Kent's field kicking is generally excellent.

Lots of slick movement out of defence.

JWeb has also stopped playing his own game. He's not as showy as he was in the past, but he's playing more accountable disciplined footy. He was a bit prone to running off his man into space before we'd even won the ball back and looked like he wanted to show the world how good he was. Now he's really holding his zone together and patrolling space.
 
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I've seen a couple of times we switch and hit players that have seen said switch coming and got on their bike - and so we hit them at a decent clip in space, compared to last year when it was a bit stagnant.

When we run the ball from defence there always seems to be 2 options, one slightly back from the one running fastest toward our goal. If the opposition chooses one to defend, we flick it out to the other. It's simple but fool proof. We love a switch too and seem to use the same method for that. Pile a mass over one side and leave two wide options to sling shot up the other side.
 
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Happy to be proven wrong but I feel as though we’ve employed the switch in previous years as well- the real change is that we’re much more efficient with it so far this year. Positioning and disposal I’d say have improved to assist that.

What’s also improved/ing is our ability to defend those maddening run-ons by our opponents where a six-goal stretch flattens us. We were killed off in a number of competitive matches last year in 20-30 minutes, but we seem to be absorbing pressure far better not conceding too much too quickly. Let’s hope we continue on this trend.
Correct in both, and your second point is noted.
That's what I wanted to see this year and have done so
 
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When we run the ball from defence there always seems to be 2 options, one slightly back from the one running fastest toward our goal. If the opposition chooses one to defend, we flick it out to the other. It's simple but fool proof. We love a switch too and seem to use the same method for that. Pile a mass over one side and leave two wide options to sling shot up the other side.
What a season, this time last season we were moaning about poor skills, no development, etc.

This season we discuss the new tactics and structure.
 
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What a season, this time last season we were moaning about poor skills, no development, etc.

This season we discuss the new tactics and structure.

I caught up with a friend yesterday, that I had convinced to follow the Saints after he immigrated from OS. He had a couple of good years when he first joined but hasn't been a happy convert so far. He was in awe at how much we have improved our skills, he was in disbelief that the side he watched last year has come so far in 12 months. He was almost in shock that that pro sportsmen can completely change in such a short time span.
 
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This will sound crazy to most.. But I want to bet on the saints to win the GF this year.. I have my reasons. I'll give you one.. Who ever pointed the bone at us has been undone by long he is our talisman I know it. ... Please tell me how to bet where to bet.. 200 bux at 34 to 1.. I'm all over it.. Serious I have no idea.

On TRT-LX2 using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
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Resilient.

The Saints have already overcome significant hurdles to get to 4 & 1. Brown suspended. Carlisle down. Steven needing space. McCartin concussed again. Roberton heart murmur. Geary under done. Longer & Pierce injured. Acres injured. Never once did they drop their heads and quit. Just the opposite. They rose to the challenge.

Tough.

The Saints look like a hard team to play against, and I'm not talking about game plan and structure. The boys have shown a real desire to implement Billy Slater's tackling technique. Opponents are staying down longer, and often limp away from contests. And it's not just our big men doing the damage with Jack 'little axe' Lonie felling several big trees in matches so far. Matty Parker has stamped his tatts on several high profile players too. Long's ear massage on Viney in the opening minutes on Saturday a good indicator that we're up for the fight.

Prepared.

Tough question - what is the best way to gain belief? Simple answer - do the work. And the Saints have clearly done that across the entire club. The recruiters have obviously walked the extra mile to find a couple of draft diamonds, with Parker and Wilkie providing plenty of early sparkle. The new coaches have transformed the team structurally and the new game plan is maximising our strengths and minimising our weakness. The players have clearly put the miles into their legs as well, and shown they are a hard running outfit on top of a hard hitting one. Remember Melbourne had 3 full days more to recover and prepare than we did.

Determined.

The boys have been tested in every single game this year. Even Melbourne took it up to us for a quarter and a half. But you can see a real unified resoluteness in the group to work hard and overcome. The attack on the man and ball is purposive. Our defence has been unwavering. We have been undaunted by our opposition to date, and some of our more fancied opponents have looked shell shocked when confronted by the strength of our resolve. Get out of the kitchen campaigners cause the Saints are turning up the heat!

Ready.

No doubt the boys are licking their lips at the next challenge. A team we haven't beaten for a while? Bring it on. No Capitan Valiente this week? Bring. It. On. Confidence is contagious, and whilst supporters nervous systems may be more than a little frayed, the players are ready. They know the formula works, just add enegry, effort and execution. Adelaide with a FULL team you say? BRING IT ON!




We know we aren't going to win every game. But, I am now supremely confident that we are going to come out and have a real crack. We are playing like we belong in the winners circle, not like we wish we did. It's a good time to be a Saints supporter again, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to enjoy the next few weeks.

Hopefully we can win against Adelaide who I think will be blowing hard after a six day week celebrating Eddie's 300th, and then topple the Giants who we seem to match up well with. If we can do that it would mean the next two weeks we front both last years grand finalists from top spot. West Coast at home. Then the Pies at the MCG! The media will have latched on by that stage, and the underdog status will be cemented in a myriad of slow motion pregame snippets of Billings brilliance, 'Little Axe' Lonie tree felling and opponents being Parkered.

I can't fecking wait till we get there again. It's our time.
Awesome post mate!!
 
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On development: I said last year that to have good development you needed good structures and defined roles within those structures. You can then coach/ develop players to execute those roles. I recon our players look better because of this.

On the switch: I come from Union, so this might not apply to AFL, but I recon that you need to be a threat at the other options, or at least use the other options to gain the right to successfully use your desired option. If that makes sense?

In AFL,
If you want to switch play at some point, you need to show the opposition that you are prepared to go down the line or attack through the corridor. The opposition then is kept honest having to defend these other options leaving more space for the switch.

We’ve been good at all 3 options so far this year IMO
 
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On the switch: I come from Union, so this might not apply to AFL, but I recon that you need to be a threat at the other options, or at least use the other options to gain the right to successfully use your desired option. If that makes sense?

In AFL,
If you want to switch play at some point, you need to show the opposition that you are prepared to go down the line or attack through the corridor. The opposition then is kept honest having to defend these other options leaving more space for the switch.


We’ve been good at all 3 options so far this year IMO
Which may explain why we went down the line three times via Long in the third scoring a goal each time and Melbourne didn’t respond.
They were either waiting for the switch.
Or couldn’t get the message out quickly enough.
Impact of no runners?
 

Premium

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Which may explain why we went down the line three times via Long in the third scoring a goal each time and Melbourne didn’t respond.
They were either waiting for the switch.
Or couldn’t get the message out quickly enough.
Impact of no runners?
Acres was involved in all of those , he just breaks open play and that was just with handball.
 

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hayes

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In: McKenzie

Out: Geary

I haven’t been Geary’s biggest fan but he will be a loss for however long he’s out. Finally he’s playing a role that actually suits him and he’s very good at it.

I like the idea of the extra in defense being a smaller athletic type. McKenzie should be able to fill Geary’s role. Either him or maybe even White, you’d be mad to change anything else.
 

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On development: I said last year that to have good development you needed good structures and defined roles within those structures. You can then coach/ develop players to execute those roles. I recon our players look better because of this.

On the switch: I come from Union, so this might not apply to AFL, but I recon that you need to be a threat at the other options, or at least use the other options to gain the right to successfully use your desired option. If that makes sense?

In AFL,
If you want to switch play at some point, you need to show the opposition that you are prepared to go down the line or attack through the corridor. The opposition then is kept honest having to defend these other options leaving more space for the switch.

We’ve been good at all 3 options so far this year IMO
We are getting better with every game , the more these guys play together the more there confidence grows , it's only going to get better.
 

FQFjt

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We are getting better with every game , the more these guys play together the more there confidence grows , it's only going to get better.
It's beautiful isn't it. This period of actually watching your team improve before your eyes as it unfolds on a weekly basis. Haven't experienced much like this for about a decade.
 

Diehard Saint

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It's beautiful isn't it. This period of actually watching your team improve before your eyes as it unfolds on a weekly basis. Haven't experienced much like this for about a decade.
And the best thing about it is we are still a young team.

Someone posted the breakdown of players by games tally somewhere and it was remarkable how young we are.
So many playing in the senior 22 who have played fewer than 20 games, and no one over 200, and so many new faces.

It was very interesting to see.
 
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no its not. social media has been plastered with abhorrent and utterly racist behavior from crows supporters for a long long time now. that permeates right through into the match day experience many have had to endure there. i've had a gutful of it. it's not "poorly chosen words" it's a symptom of a major problem within your supporter base. even very bland posts can't help but have an under current of racism through it. it needs to be addressed.

pull your heads in and start addressing it with your fellow supporters, instead of having innocent people continually cop your clubs problem with racism.

ask any opposition club what it's like to sit in the outer at an adelaide home game.
Crap.
 

Big 0

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In: McKenzie

Out: Geary

I haven’t been Geary’s biggest fan but he will be a loss for however long he’s out. Finally he’s playing a role that actually suits him and he’s very good at it.

I like the idea of the extra in defense being a smaller athletic type. McKenzie should be able to fill Geary’s role. Either him or maybe even White, you’d be mad to change anything else.
McKenzie is probably second to Gears as the most out and out desperate player on our list. The kid will put his body on the line every time, perfect replacement.
 
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